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Johnny Friendly
Michael J. Skelly, or better known by his union name Johnny Friendly, is the main antagonist of the 1954 film, On the Waterfront. He was portrayed by the late Lee J. Cobb, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Biography Early life Nobody gets to find out much about Michael Skelly early life, but he stated that he really wanted to get some work in the union when he was 16. The workers were unhappy about Michael being in the union and gave him serious beating, to the point where he still had a large scar on his neck. When he gained control over the waterfront, he forced each of his members to pay a certain amount of extra money under the threat of physically hurt them if they wouldn't. Story During some point, Michael became a mob boss who controlled the waterfront under iron fist and adopted the name Johnny Friendly as an ironic nam. The police were helpless to arrested because thearts by his henchman. During Terry's boxing career, Johnny had made a bet against Terry, and had asked Charley "The Gent" Malloy - Terry's brother and his right-hand - to make sure Terry lost the match so he would win the bet. Charley ended up paying Terry to lose and "fixed" the match so Terry's opponent would win. After the match, Terry ended up getting depressed and wondering what he would do afterwards. Friendly found out about how upset Terry losing the boxing match made him, and offered him a job to work in the union with his brother. He made Terry promise to stay quiet about his crimes and succeeded in doing so for quite some time. One day, which is also during the beginning of the film, Friendly told Terry to lure Joey Doyle onto the roof. Terry shouted to fellow pigeon-lover Joey in his apartment, and told Joey to meet him on the rooftop. Terry notices dark figures of two men standing in the background, and choses to release his pigeon into the air rather than go onto the roof, and then walks down the street to Johnny's bar. Suddenly, the two figures toss Joey off his multi-story roof and kill him. Inside the bar, Johnny and his goons were watching a prizefight on a TV. Terry was surprised by this turn of events as he thought Johnny was going to push him or talk sense into him. He loses his temper on Big Mac after he stated he never got educated. Johnny explains to Terry how he became head of the local union and continues to maintain the operation. He also calmly rationalizes to Terry about the death of Joey Doyle - a waterfront dockworker who might have threatened the entire business. Friendly gives Terry a fifty-dollar bill, and promises a prime work area at the docks at the next morning's shape-up. Charley reinforces Johnny's kind gesture to his brother with a warning to not try and cross him. The next day, when Father Barry's giving a speech to a group of people (including Terry whom Charley had sent to spy on Barry) and trying to encourage them to stand up to Johnny Friendly, Friendly's goons suddenly invade the church, forcing everyone to evacuate. Terry managed to help Edie escape, and the two of them got to know each other better. After Edie abandoned Terry since she assumed Terry was working with the mob, Charley and Friendly drove up in a car in front of Terry. The two of them were worried about another informant longshoreman, Kayo Dugan, who left the parish meeting that Terry had attended. Terry claimed that no one stepped up for the murders. However, according to Friendly, a half hour after the meeting was broken up, Kayo Dugan went into a secret session with the Crime Commission and started his own rebellion. Charley lashes out at Terry for hanging out with Edie. Friendly pressures Terry to keep away from Edie for good or he would kill both of them. He then orders Charley to arrange to "muzzle" Dugan, and then Terry is told he'd be "working with the sweat gang" until he took his job more seriously. The next day at the docks, Kayo Dugan is part of a crew unloading cases of Irish whiskey from a ship. Friendly knew Dugan would be there, and set up a fake accident where a heavy pallet is being raised from the open hatch, the lead ends up getting dropped, and the cargo net plunges down, spilling the entire heavy load of whiskey boxes into the hold of the ship. The load "accidentally" crushes and kills Dugan who is positioned directly under. Eventually, Terry developed an affection and relationship with Edie and Father Barry, and finally decided to tell them the truth about his accidental role in Joey's death. Edie was heartbroken about what had happened and ran away from Terry. Finally, Terry had settled on reporting the union crimes on the waterfront as a attempt to make things up with her. Back at the dockside longshoreman's union shack, Johnny Friendly was nervous that Terry sell them out and give his testimony to the commission. He asks Charley if his brother would play 'deaf and dumb' - assured that strong-arm tactics are needed to hush him up. Charley didn't know whether Terry would stay quiet or not, so Friendly sent Charley to warn his brother off by any means necessary. When Charley fails to convince his brother Terry to stay quiet about the union, Johnny and his goons find out about Charley letting Terry go, and they kill Charley for it. To mock that they killed Charley, they hang up his body swings from a longshoreman's baling/meat hook in the back alley where Terry saw the body and vowed to avenge his brother's death. Father Barry finds out about Terry's plans for Johnny, and encourages Terry to not get his revenge by killing him, since he'd be no better than Friendly if he did so. Instead, he wanted Terry to take Johnny to court and expose his true nature. The next day in the courtroom, Terry does just that. He stated that he was one of the last people to see Joey Doyle before he was killed, and the he expressed his feelings about the murder to Friendly. "Mr. Upstairs" heard the broadcast, and decided he wouldn't do business with Johnny anymore. After the court session, Johnny threated Terry with unemployment, and the people of the city (except Edie and Father Barry) turned against Terry and saw him as a traitor to the waterfront - even though he had done the right thing. Edie finds him sitting saddly in the coop, where all of his birds have had their necks wrung. She sympathizes with him and is proud of him for doing what was right. Terry, with a new sense of dignity, grabs Joey's jacket and goes down to work ignores the murmurs the work said about him. Meanwhile, in union headquarters, a shack at dockside, Friendly feels the pressure from the courtroom ordeal with Terry. He reads the headlines of The Daily Tribune and tells his fellow mugs that as soon as they got off the front page, Terry would be his. He collects guns from his reluctant goons, and leave the union office as Terry marches with a crowd following behind, down the ramp. He passionately challenges Friendly and his cohorts when they appear. Friendly beckons Terry with his hands, tempting him to fight, causing Terry to take the aggressive challenge. Inevitably, They had furious, savage, bloody fight between each other. Terry lands some effective punches, until Friendly called his guards over and they beat him up mercilessly and nearly kill him. The longshoremen watching the struggle creep forward, but are prevented from assisting Terry. A swollen-faced Friendly invites Edie and Father Barry, who have arrived, to attend to battered Terry's bloody wounds. As he lies there senseless and crumpled on the deck, Terry is barely conscious. When the longshoremen are called back to work, they rally behind their fallen Terry, impressed by his courageous will. They threaten Friendly that they won't return to work without him. Friendly was furious at this, but Mr. Doyle shoves Friendly from the dock into the cold water, causing a roar of laughter from the crowd. As Terry is assisted, numb, bloody and injured, he rallies them and painfully prepares to walk back to work. Speaking for all of them, one of the longshoremen vows. Father Barry urges Terry to lead them in, although he doesn't want to respond initially. Terry struggles as he painfully walks to work. Friendly had gotten out of the water and helplessly points at the workers with an accusing finger as they ignore him and follow Terry inside. 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